Writerly Ways
Jan. 22nd, 2023 09:40 pmI was talking to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shipperslist about a comm they recommended ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
12monthsofmurder and it occurred to me that while I can whump the crap out of characters I struggle with major character death (unless it's a canonical character I don't like, looking at you Andrew Wells). That said it sounds like such a fun challenge that I wish I COULD kill off characters I like.
One of my few attempts to kill a character I love ended badly, points to my Price of Grief series for Prodigal Son. It WAS supposed to be a one and done where Malcolm dies. I don't think that story was up more than an hour before I made it a choose your own adventure and let him live in the end if you wanted that. And from there the next two stories are him living with the aftermath of nearly dying....
I'm even WORSE when it comes to original characters. I'm actually pretty proud of me for killing a character in my nano novel but to be fair she was created to die (Sorry). I will bend my own canon to breaking point to avoid killing characters I like. I've even shelved a few stories because I do not know where to take it if I don't kill the character.
I'm not really sure what this says about me. Even if the villain is pretty awful I still struggle with killing them off.
I do wonder if it stems from TV/Movies where when an actor wants out they kill off a character instead of finding a more creative way to do it. (Looking at you M.A.S.H for starting this with Henry Blake) In some ways that has always seemed like the lazy way to do it (I still maintain there was no reason to kill off Tony Stark. He could have been in the background doing what he does without us needing to see him for example)
We've seen also how killing off a character doesn't always work. Fans get PISSED. I'm not sure if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the first to run into this but he was one of the most public and was forced to bring back Sherlock. Killing off Spock was met with such horror, he was back by the next movie.
I wonder if this had an affect on me. I wonder if my aversion to killing characters is simply inherent.
Does anyone else struggle with this? Do you like knocking off your babies? I was lamenting this weekend about my horror not being horrific enough because not enough people died and ELD pointed out Stephen King doesn't always kill off everyone so why should I need to?
OPEN CALL
Spoon Knife 8 theme is smoke & mirrors
Novus Monstrum: The Midnight Zone (Full Call) I have something for this one!
Living With Demons This has some pay and the sales go to mental health resources
Electric Spec May Issue 2023 )low pay)
Darklit Press Is Open For Novels And Novellas!
IT CAME FROM THE TRAILER PARK: VOL 3 crap, this is one I wrote for last year and wrote the due date wrong. This time it's a lower word count with a twist on the theme so I'm not sure I can rework my story to fit it. sigh. I think I'll have to write another one if I want to try.
From Around the Web
TAKING CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH IN THE EDITING PROCESS
DEVELOP A STRONG WRITING PLATFORM BY EXERCISING YOUR ONLINE MUSCLES
Latest Updates to Amazon Author Central in 2023
Writing Cross-Genre Fiction and Battling the Book Marketing Comp Title
Writing Prompts Unlock Freedom And Creativity personally I love prompts.
Traditional Vs. Self-Publishing: Follow The Numbers
How To Write And Publish A Book Faster: A 4-Stage Process
Since I needed a quick way to do this for my novel. I went looking. Found one that was so complicated and I knew it had to be easier than that. It is
From Betty
A World Within a Book
Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Marketing for Introverts
How to Write a Book From Start to Finish in 13 Steps.
Call to Action: The Mega Power of Tiny Copy.
How To Self-Publish A Book In 10 Steps
How to Get Readers to Feel Those Emotional Twists
Crafting Plausible Maps
Choosing Viewpoint Characters
How to Describe Characters
Fear Thesaurus Entry: Criticism
5 Ways to Approach Your Novel Like a Trial Lawyer
the objectively objectionable grammatical pet peeve
Infuse a character’s desires into their observations
shipperslist about a comm they recommended 12monthsofmurder and it occurred to me that while I can whump the crap out of characters I struggle with major character death (unless it's a canonical character I don't like, looking at you Andrew Wells). That said it sounds like such a fun challenge that I wish I COULD kill off characters I like.One of my few attempts to kill a character I love ended badly, points to my Price of Grief series for Prodigal Son. It WAS supposed to be a one and done where Malcolm dies. I don't think that story was up more than an hour before I made it a choose your own adventure and let him live in the end if you wanted that. And from there the next two stories are him living with the aftermath of nearly dying....
I'm even WORSE when it comes to original characters. I'm actually pretty proud of me for killing a character in my nano novel but to be fair she was created to die (Sorry). I will bend my own canon to breaking point to avoid killing characters I like. I've even shelved a few stories because I do not know where to take it if I don't kill the character.
I'm not really sure what this says about me. Even if the villain is pretty awful I still struggle with killing them off.
I do wonder if it stems from TV/Movies where when an actor wants out they kill off a character instead of finding a more creative way to do it. (Looking at you M.A.S.H for starting this with Henry Blake) In some ways that has always seemed like the lazy way to do it (I still maintain there was no reason to kill off Tony Stark. He could have been in the background doing what he does without us needing to see him for example)
We've seen also how killing off a character doesn't always work. Fans get PISSED. I'm not sure if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the first to run into this but he was one of the most public and was forced to bring back Sherlock. Killing off Spock was met with such horror, he was back by the next movie.
I wonder if this had an affect on me. I wonder if my aversion to killing characters is simply inherent.
Does anyone else struggle with this? Do you like knocking off your babies? I was lamenting this weekend about my horror not being horrific enough because not enough people died and ELD pointed out Stephen King doesn't always kill off everyone so why should I need to?
OPEN CALL
Spoon Knife 8 theme is smoke & mirrors
Novus Monstrum: The Midnight Zone (Full Call) I have something for this one!
Living With Demons This has some pay and the sales go to mental health resources
Electric Spec May Issue 2023 )low pay)
Darklit Press Is Open For Novels And Novellas!
IT CAME FROM THE TRAILER PARK: VOL 3 crap, this is one I wrote for last year and wrote the due date wrong. This time it's a lower word count with a twist on the theme so I'm not sure I can rework my story to fit it. sigh. I think I'll have to write another one if I want to try.
From Around the Web
TAKING CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH IN THE EDITING PROCESS
DEVELOP A STRONG WRITING PLATFORM BY EXERCISING YOUR ONLINE MUSCLES
Latest Updates to Amazon Author Central in 2023
Writing Cross-Genre Fiction and Battling the Book Marketing Comp Title
Writing Prompts Unlock Freedom And Creativity personally I love prompts.
Traditional Vs. Self-Publishing: Follow The Numbers
How To Write And Publish A Book Faster: A 4-Stage Process
Since I needed a quick way to do this for my novel. I went looking. Found one that was so complicated and I knew it had to be easier than that. It is
From Betty
A World Within a Book
Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Marketing for Introverts
How to Write a Book From Start to Finish in 13 Steps.
Call to Action: The Mega Power of Tiny Copy.
How To Self-Publish A Book In 10 Steps
How to Get Readers to Feel Those Emotional Twists
Crafting Plausible Maps
Choosing Viewpoint Characters
How to Describe Characters
Fear Thesaurus Entry: Criticism
5 Ways to Approach Your Novel Like a Trial Lawyer
the objectively objectionable grammatical pet peeve
Infuse a character’s desires into their observations
